25 Best Battles in DC Comics History

Superhero comics, by nature, are filled with a great many battles of epic proportions. DC Comics, with their long and colorful history of publishing superhero stories, holds some of the greatest battles of modern fiction within its pages.

We've decided to take a look back on DC's 75 year history and list out the best battles that have ever graced their comics, ranging from the purely physical to the most emotional and, certainly, the most influential.

25

Batman’s Greatest Failure

Released 2005

As Seen In: Batman: Under the Hood

What happens when your greatest failure comes back to haunt you? We’ve seen that theme throughout the history of great fiction, not the least of which is in superhero comics. Batman’s greatest failure, of course, is Jason Todd, the second Robin who was killed at the hands of the Joker (we’ll get to that later).

So when he returned from the great beyond as Gotham City’s new Red Hood to enact his revenge on the Joker, inevitably he would come face-to-face with his former mentor. Their battle was actually pretty brief, but Todd’s confrontation with the Dark Knight about the latter’s inability to avenge the former’s death was powerful enough to get a spot on this list.

24

Last Stand of the Secret Six

Released 2011

As Seen In: Secret Six #36

There’s nothing more badass than anti-heroes having a final showdown; one last hurrah to really test their mettle. In the series finale of Gail Simone and J. Calafiore’s criminally underappreciated Secret Six, the surviving members of the team have their very own Butch and Sundance moment as they stand their ground against nearly every single superhero in the DC Universe.

They were defeated and jailed (later to be freed courtesy of a continuity reboot), of course, but that doesn’t make their final stand any less entertaining. Best of all, it showed how much of a threat they truly were, forcing all of DC’s big guns to show up and stop them.

23

Batman Shoots Darkseid, Darkseid Shoots Back

Released 2009

As Seen In: Final Crisis #6

Batman made a promise that he’d never use a gun, but when you’re going up against a world-killing New God, sometimes your options are limited. With Darkseid’s terror reigning over the DC Universe, regular-guy-dressed-as-a-giant-bat- Bruce Wayne uses a Radion bullet -- one that was fired back through time to kill Darkseid’s son Orion – to severely weaken the tyrant. A human standing up to a New God is unthinkable, but hey, this is Batman we’re talking about.

Of course, Batman’s actions result in him getting hit with the Omega Beams and appear dead to his friends and allies. Of course, that wasn’t entirely the case, but we’ll get to that soon enough.

22

Ralph Dibny’s Last Laugh

Released 2007

As Seen In: 52 #42

Ralph Dibny, the Elongated Man, was in a rough spot following the events of his wife’s tragic death. In the weekly series 52, he spent most of the year trying to find a way to resurrect Sue, but instead fell into a pit of despair. At wit’s end, he finally reached the Tower of Fate, where we learned that Felix Faust was, in fact, manipulating Ralph the entire time.

The good thing is that Ralph knew it, too. Effectively sacrificing himself to trap Faust and co-conspirator Neron inside of the Tower of Fate – his death meaning that no one can reverse the spell that’s keeping the villains trapped -- Dibny rid the DCU of two its most notorious bad guys while once again proving he was one of the DCU’s greatest thinkers.

21

Blackest Night

Released 2009

As Seen In: Blackest Night

A crux of Geoff Johns’ expansive Green Lantern saga, Blackest Night saw long-dead friends and enemies of the DCU’s greatest heroes come back to life as rotted corpses with powers like never before. Forced to confront great loves and forgotten enemies, Blackest Night was an epic of zombie-like proportions but with far more emotional resonance than something like Marvel Zombies was ever able to deliver.

Black Hand ushers in the return of Nekron, the Lord of the Unliving, and with him the Black Power Battery that unleashes legions of Black Lanterns upon our heroes. Ultimately, the different Lantern Corps are able to come together and unleashed the White Lantern Rings, defeating Nekron and his army of Black Lanterns.